His Test Came Back Positive. He Boarded the Plane Anyway

A 29-year-old Argentinian man got on an American Airlines flight from Miami to Buenos Aires Saturday after presenting a medical certificate that stated he was fit to fly. He didn't tell airline agents that he had tested positive for COVID-19 three hours earlier. Santiago Solans Portillo was arrested and taken to a quarantine hotel after he arrived in Buenos Aires with a high fever, which was detected by thermal scanners at the airport, the Washington Post reports. Authorities have seized his cellphone and are looking into when and how he got the medical certificate, which came from a different Florida clinic than the one that tested him for the coronavirus.

A lawyer for the clinic that cleared Portillo to fly says the certificate wasn't counterfeit, though the man's only contact with them was through a telehealth appointment. Authorities in Argentina say Portillo, a business owner who flew to the US to be vaccinated, has "a complicated legal situation that will be drastically aggravated," with a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison, if any of the other 257 passengers on the flight develop COVID symptoms, reports La Vanguardia. Sources tell the paper that the certificate Portillo gave American Airlines agents stated that he had "been examined" Saturday and did not show any symptoms. Argentinian authorities say they will fine American Airlines for allowing an infected passenger to board the flight. (More coronavirus stories.)